Darkness Can't Talk
by NikkyDOOM
Summary: A girl moves to Konoha in search of a new start after so many letdowns. Gaara begins his transition into a happy life. Sasuke doesn't know what he wants. Naruto is perplexed when it comes to the opposite sex. GaaraOc NaruHina ShikaTema OOC, some canon.
1. First day of School

**Author's Note:** Sup? Step one. The wait is over. Comment if you want more. You actually have to read it though. Major editing with the plot.  
x

Characters (c) Masashi Kishimoto  
Story (c) **NikkyDOOM**

* * *

Miko stopped in front of her mirror before walking out her door. She studied her face carefully.  
"Miko-San, do you want to be late for your first day of class?"  
Miko looked up at her mother.  
"Do I have to go? I mean everyone else has already started school, and I'm going to be officially labeled as the 'new kid'!" she said.  
"It's not as bad as you think. Stop being so dramatic, and get out."  
"Bu-but!"  
In an instant, her mother had pushed her out the door.  
Miko hated those random moves. It wasn't her fault that her family was so **_nomadic_**. She fixed her plaid skirt, and re-arranged her headband with the symbol representing the village of Konoha.  
Miko began walking, taking her time. She wasn't in any sort of rush to get to school on time. 

_I hope I don't trip and fall in front of any one. Or worse, I get food stuck in my teeth, or no one talks to me at the end of the day. That would really suck. _

She stopped and stared at her reflection in a puddle. She fixed her eyeliner and continued to walk. She then stopped dead in her tracks.

_Woah! What the hell is that?!_

Miko zoomed in on her forehead. It was a zit.  
No, excuse me. Not a zit.  
It was much bigger. A lot more noticeable.

_Oi! JEEZ! Why?! Why today?! WHY?!_

Miko huffed. She quickly became fixated on the eye-catching pimple.  
"Great. Just great."  
She brushed her bangs with her fingers quickly, covering it.

_This could work… yeah, for another six or seven hours it can._

Miko stepped into Konoha's public high-school, and looked around.  
She took out a pink slip from her bag, and tried to find the numbers displayed.

_Room 340?_

She looked through the window at the door, to see people already sitting at their desk. The desks were arranged differently than she was used to.  
They were rows, elevated like a stadium.  
Miko exhaled, a little hesitant at first, but eventually reached for the doorknob.  
"Now if only you'd all turn your pages to 108, we'll be able to read on the escapades of..." Iruka-Sensei dropped his chalk on the tray, dusted his hands off on his pants; and approached Miko.  
He gave her a warm smile. She couldn't help but return it.

"And who are you Miss?"  
"I'm Miko Yamanara?"  
"Oh, right you're the _new_ student. And where are you from?"

Miko blinked. She didn't know what to say. She's moved so many times that she's lost count.

_Mom did tell me to avoid this question. But how can I? If he's already asked it?_

"Umm…well, I'm from--"

"You'll see! I'll be Hokage some day! Believe it!!!"  
Miko turned her attention to a boy with spiked blonde hair sitting up in the third row. His blue eyes were tingling with excitement, and he was pointing his finger at a pink haired girl.  
"Shut up big-mouth!" The girl had easily smacked him behind the head. A lump began to appear.

"Sakura! Naruto! Another outburst from either one of you, and I guarantee you'll be staying after school with Anko!" Iruka shouted from across the room.

_Oooohkay?_

"I'm sorry Miss Yamanara." Said Iruka-Sensai, eyeing Sakura and Naruto. "Anything else you'd like to let us know about yourself?"  
"Me and my family move around a lot, so it's most likely I'll be gone in a few weeks." Miko said, non-enthusiastically.  
"Do you have any talents?" asked Iruka-Sensai.  
"Yes.—I mean no."

_I feel very, very stupid right about now…_

Iruka-Sensai looked at Miko as if wondering if she'd continue, so he could get on with the lesson. Miko looked at Iruka-Sensai back, and crossed her arms across her chest timidly.

"You may take a seat now, Miko-San."  
She nodded and walked to the fourth row. She looked for an empty seat, and found one in between a boy who had his hood on, and seemed soundly asleep; and a girl who kept playing with her fingers.  
Miko sat; set her bag down on the floor, and looked towards the front of the room. She felt something nuzzling her thigh. She looked down, to see a dog tugging on her skirt.

_I'm not even going to ask why there's a dog in a classroom. Or why it's trying to get to third base._

Miko pushed the dog away softly, and turned back to Iruka-Sensei.

"Don't mind Akamaru…he's friendly…especially around really pretty girls." whispered a voice. She looked to her left to see the boy with the hood, actually fully awake now.  
Miko smirked.

_Yeah right, with this huge friggin zit on my face._

"I bet you say that to _all_ the new girls." she said, dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka. And the dog currently showing you affection is my dog Akamaru." She looked back down at the dog that hadn't budged. She looked a bit taken back by it, but she began petting Akamaru, who seemed to be enjoying the new attention.

"I'm Miko."  
Kiba grinned, and put Akamaru back in his book-bag. He left it unzipped so that Akamaru could have air.  
Kiba stared at Miko for a few seconds, and then went back to his nap. She brushed her black and honey colored hair back, and leaned into her chair.

"Ooh! Look at me! I'm Sasuke and my hair is shaped like a duck's butt!"

Miko turned her attention to the third row, where the blonde boy named Naruto and the girl were arguing, yet again. Sakura punched him on the head.

"Sakura! Naruto! I guess I'll be seeing the both of you after school!"  
"Look at what you did now big mouth!" Sakura said, shaking her fist at Naruto.  
Naruto blushed, "Sorry Sakura. I didn't mean to get us in trouble…" He flashed his signature fox-grin. "But _you_ started it!"

Sakura looked as if she was going to strike him again, but instead she shifted in her seat, and turned towards the front of the room; ignoring Naruto Uzumaki for the rest of the class.

After a few minutes, Miko couldn't bear it anymore. This class was _way_ too boring for her own taste. Usually she loved learning new things, but history just didn't strike her as 'interesting'. Just as she was about to doze off along with Kiba, the door swung open.  
"Sasuke! "  
"No Sasuke over here!!"  
"Yoo-hoo!!"

The raven haired boy looked behind him, and smirked.

_Fangirls?  
_

"Hmn."   
He let the door slam behind him and began walking up the short steps to the fifth row.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you're late again." Iruka commented. He didn't even bother looking up from his book.  
Sasuke didn't answer, instead he took his seat.

Right behind Miko.  
He set his books down. Sasuke sat in between a focused looking boy with long black hair and white-violet eyes, and a girl with buns on her head.  
Miko looked over her shoulder at him, carefully studying him through the corner of her eye. She proceeded to brush her shoulder with her chin, trying to make it look natural.

_Hopefully, that wasn't as obvious as it felt._

Miko really wanted to just slam her head on the desk.

_I'm such a dork._

Sasuke stared at the back of her head, not noticing her before. Miko began doodling on the corner of her paper, drawing a cute panda. A folded piece of paper flew over her shoulder, landing directly on the center of her book. She looked around, picked it up and unfolded it.

**_Who are you?_**  
'What's it to you?' she scribbled back.  
She had known Sasuke had thrown it, so she threw it behind her shoulder. Sasuke stared at the paper, and opened it carefully.  
He smirked at the response, writing swiftly.  
**_Well, I'm Sasuke._**  
He threw the paper over her shoulder again. Miko rolled her eyes.  
'I'm Miko. And you're annoying.'

She flung the paper behind her again, and Sasuke opened it.

His eyes widened.

_Me? Annoying?  
_

Before Sasuke could have picked up his pen, a Kunai went flying right past her ear, nearly missing her. Miko froze. She turned around, facing Sasuke, to see the Kunai stuck in the middle of the note she was passing with the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, bring that here."  
Sasuke closed his eyes, took the Kunai out of the note, and passed the paper to Iruka. "Socializing during my class eh-- Sasuke?" Sasuke just looked back at Iruka, no emotion showing on his face.  
"I didn't expect this from you Miss Yamanara. Especially on your first day here."

Miko turned around cautiously and looked back at Iruka. She quickly stole a glance at Sasuke. His eyes had turned red.  
Miko turned back around so fast, she could have sworn she had gotten whip lashed.

_Why were his eyes red? Weren't they black a minute ago?_

"Well, I'm going to give you two more time to get better acquainted." He added with a grin. Miko just looked at him.

_Just my luck. _

Iruka's glance shifted towards Kiba.

"You and Miss Yamanara will be joining detention with Naruto and Sakura." He tugged Kiba's hood off his head.

"I've already told you no sleeping in my class Kiba. And I've also mentioned to leave Akamaru at home." Kiba stirred, and looked up at Iruka. His eye lids were still drooping with slumber.

"Sorry Sensei, it won't happen again." He said sleepily.

"Well you'll have time to sleep all you'd like in detention with your fellow classmates." Kiba's eyes shot open. Now he was _wide_ awake.  
"What?!!" he cried.Sasuke's sharingan faded.  
Iruka grinned.  
"So _now_ I get your full fledged attention? Of course, now that your after-school activities are in jeopardy."  
Kiba groaned.   
Iruka walked back down to his desk, dumping the note in the trash-can.  
"Class is over now, I'll be seeing some of you tomorrow, and _some_ of you _later_ on."


	2. La di Da

**Author's Note: **This doesn't feel like such a pain anymore. It's actually a nice way to vent.  
**Loads of conversation hearts,  
Nikky.**

Characters (c) Masashi Kishimoto  
Story (c) **NikkyDOOM  
**

* * *

The day was passing by pretty fast.  
It wasn't as if Miko was looking forward to it… She **_did _**have detention with the annoying Uchiha, amongst other students she didn't even know.

_It's okay. It'll be okay. It's Thursday. Thursday. Just one more day._

At the end of all her classes, she approached the same room she had entered in the morning. Iruka was sitting at his desk, writing on a few papers.  
Miko went in, signed her name on the book Iruka had passed her, and sat in the last row. She looked around.  
There were more students than Iruka had failed to mention.  
"So we meet again?" Miko looked at Kiba, not even turning her head to look at him fully.  
"It certainly seems so." she answered. "There happens to be more people than I had expected…"

_Maybe I can actually be friends with this guy._

Miko had already gotten busted for passing notes with Sasuke; she didn't want to get in trouble again for talking.  
"Yep. That's Iruka-Sensei for ya'. Always catching everything anyone is doing." he said, grinning sharply. "So what's going on gorgeous?"  
Miko just stared at him.

_Okay, acquaintance.  
_

She laughed a little. "Nothing, really."  
"How do you like it here in Konoha?" Kiba asked.  
"It's fine. I guess. School's the same everywhere really."  
He was still looking at her even though her lips had stopped moving.  
"I wouldn't feel as awkward if I knew who these other people were." She finished.  
"Oh...well...Not everyone is here today." Kiba shrugged. "Then again…" Kiba began pointing at different heads in the room.  
"That's Sasuke...you've already met him."  
"Unfortunately." Miko sighed.  
"What about her?" Miko pointed at the girl that was twiddling with her fingers earlier.  
"Oh, that's Hinata-San. She's on my team."  
"That's Sakura. She's madly in love with Sasuke."   
Miko raised an eyebrow in surprise. Well not really in surprise. It was no lie that Sasuke Uchiha was attractive, but he seemed almost over-confident. Okay, not almost.

"Well Sakura is on his team along with Naruto Uzumaki."  
"The blonde haired kid with the whiskers on his cheeks?"

"They are not whiskers!"

Miko turned around again, to see Naruto, perched upon the seat in front of her.

_Isn't Iruka-Sensei in here?_

Miko glanced at the front of the room.  
Iruka was gone.  
"Hey!"   
She turned her attention back to Naruto, and smiled.  
"Yeah?"  
"Who are you?"  
"I'm Miko. Nice to meet you."  
"Oh…Well I'm Naruto!" he said, flashing a smile.  
"So why are you talking about me Dogboy?" he said, directing his attention to Kiba.  
Kiba just folded his arms behind his head, smirking. "It's none of your business loser."

**_That_** did it.

Naruto and Kiba started going at it, certain names being exchanged.  
"Dogbreath!"  
"Asswipe!"  
"Walkin' flea-collar!"  
"Bastard!"

_And then it got awkward on me._

Miko picked up her things and moved away from them. She chose a seat near a window, next to a boy who seemed deep in thought.  
In the back, she could still hear Naruto and Kiba arguing. She poked his arm softly.  
"Hello."   
He looked back at her.  
"Hey. You're new here, huh?"  
Miko bit her lip. "Yeah, I am. I'm..."

"You're Miko Yamanara. I was actually paying attention. I'm Shikamaru Nara, by the way."  
"So…um what are you up to?" Miko asked shyly.  
Shikamaru shrugged. "Just wondering how is it I wound up here. I must have dozed off during Iruka-Sensei's lecture."  
Miko laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I thought I was going to go to sleep any minute."  
Shikamaru rubbed behind his head. "You look pretty innocent. How'd you get in to trouble?"  
Miko pushed her bangs back behind her ears. "Well, I was passing notes with that kid—"

_What was his name?_

Sasuke had turned, and looked at Miko in a sort of entertained, way. He smirked at her.  
Miko scoffed.  
"Sasuke."  
Shikamaru chuckled. "Ino would kill you."  
"Ino?"  
"She's my teammate. Happens to be in love with Sasuke. Well, that's what she says. I think it's all pretty troublesome."

_Wow. Another one._

"It's not like I made the first move." Miko said with a frown.  
When she looked over at Shikamaru again, he was back to looking out the window.

_Nice while it lasted. I guess I should occupy myself too._

Miko picked up her purple pen, and began writing on her soft, light brown skin.  
"Hi." Miko looked up to see Sakura smiling.  
"Hey." she said, not really paying attention. She was way more in to her doodle.  
"I'm Sakura."  
"I already know."  
"You do?"  
"Yes, Kiba told me."  
"Oh…" she said softly. "Well are you having a good first day?"

Miko stopped doodling. She smiled back at Sakura.  
"It's going smoothly, so yes. Yes I am. Nothing out of the ordinary."  
"Well do you want to know who's who? I over-heard you and Kiba talking."  
"It's not nice to eavesdrop." Miko answered.  
"Do you want to know or not?" Sakura asked, offering her another friendly smile.  
Miko nodded skeptically.

"Well you already know me, Kiba and Shikamaru. And you've met Naruto."   
"Mhm."  
"The blonde with the long hair and purple outfit is Ino Yamanaka. I preferably call her Ino-pig." she said caustically.  
Miko put her head in her hands.  
"She's on Shikamaru's team along with Chouji...I don't really know much about him, just he really likes to eat."  
"I don't blame him. Food _is_ delicious. If I could I'd sit in a room and eat all day. Just for the taste. But I don't think I'd like losing my figure either."  
Sakura laughed. "I agree." Sakura stuck a book in to her bag. "A lot of people are absent today."  
"Yeah, Kiba said the same thing. I bet they heard me coming a mile away and decided to skip town."  
Sakura frowned slightly. "Why'd you say that?"  
"I don't know…I never manage to make many friends since I move around so frequently. Besides, bad luck always befalls those I care about."  
"Oh come on. It can't be that bad. At least you're not as bad as Gaara."

Miko rolled her eyes, but suddenly stopped. Something had caught her eye. Someone was staring at her, and had been ever since Sakura had begun talking to her.  
Miko turned around.  
Everyone seemed to have been talking with one another.  
Then she saw him.  
Aquamarine eyes were burning into hers.  
His red hair tossed a bit when he turned away.

"Sakura..."

Sakura was still talking away.

"Sakura!" Miko said a little louder.  
"What?" Sakura asked.  
"Who's that?" Miko asked, signaling at the boy who had been staring at her.

_Something about the way he was looking at me… Is it just me or did it get a little bit colder in here?_

"That's Sabaku No Gaara."  
"Who?"  
"He's from the desert. And the guy with the cat hood thing, is Kankurou his brother, and the blonde beside him is their older sister, Temari."  
"If they're from the Desert what are they doing _here_?"  
"They go back to the desert when school is over. They come to Konoha for school...I don't really know why."  
Miko stared down at her hands. "Well, Suna has an irregular school system. That might be the reason."  
"Yeah, I heard about that." Sakura began to lower her voice.  
"It's really weird, se—"  
"Miko, keep your distance from Gaara-Kun. He's…dangerous you can say." Sakura said quietly.  
"What do you mean? He looks pretty normal to me."

_Except for the part where he doesn't have eyebrows. I've seen things a lot more odd looking, but how can you tell when he's expressing something? And I doubt all that black around his eyes is eyeliner…He's kind of cute now that I'm really looking at him._

"Well...he can manipulate sand. Usually he has a gourd on his back but before we walk into the building they take away our tools--but basically... he's used the sand to well.."  
"_Well_?" Miko said. She was eager to know, but scared to know the answer.  
"Kill people."  
Miko stared down at her hands again. The panda she had been drawing had smeared.  
"I see."  
Miko glanced down at the boy named Gaara once again.

He was looking back at her. Miko didn't turn away. Gaara's lips curved, resembling a sort of smile.  
Except, the smile seemed contemptuous.  
He looked away, and started talking to Kankurou.

* * *

After half an hour or so, a loud bang was heard from outside the door of the classroom.

"Okay people! Out!" Anko yelled.

Everyone gathered their things and walked out.  
As soon as Miko had stepped into the sunlight outside, she saw lots of people, around with their own teammates or friends.  
Miko looked around until she spotted Kiba. She ran began to run, trying to catch up with him.

_He is the first one to talk to me…_

"Hey!" she said with a smile.  
Kiba smiled back. "What's up?"   
"Not much. On my way home."  
Hinata was with him. Miko looked at them both. Hinata waved slightly but nonetheless offered a friendly smile.  
"Do you have to be home right away?" Kiba inquired.  
"No, not really. Why?"

"Well...Since Kurenai didn't really tell us to go train today, we're gonna walk around town a bit."  
"Mind if I come along?" Miko asked sweetly.Kiba reddened, but agreed.  
Kiba offered to hold Miko's books, to which she obliged thankfully. They began to walk away from the school grounds. Even though Gaara had exited the room before she had...it still felt as if he were watching her. His gaze had made her chest tighten up, her heart beat racing. It wasn't even an attraction. It was fear.


End file.
